Kounalakis, Hernandez finish top two in tight CA...

FILE - In this April 17, 2018, file photo, Eleni Kounalakis, Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in the 2018 California primary election, speaks during a debate sponsored by the Sacramento Press Club ... more

FILE - In this April 17, 2018, file photo, Eleni Kounalakis, Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in the 2018 California primary election, speaks during a debate sponsored by the Sacramento Press Club in Sacramento, Calif. She finished with a slight lead in the early voting totals for the election held Tuesday, June 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Steve Yeater, FIle) less

Photo: Steve Yeater / Associated Press

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Eleni Kounalakis, second from left, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in the June primary, talks with attendees at the Power to the Polls rally at the Capitol on Friday, June 1, 2018, in ... more

Eleni Kounalakis, second from left, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in the June primary, talks with attendees at the Power to the Polls rally at the Capitol on Friday, June 1, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif. She finished with a slight lead in the early voting totals for the election held Tuesday, June 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) less

Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

Former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary Eleni Kounalakis finished with a hold on first in a tight three-way race to qualify for the November general election to replace Gavin Newsom as California’s lieutenant governor.

Kounalakis, a Democrat, was ahead of 11 candidates for one of two spots in the runoff. With 99.1 precincts reporting just before 8 a.m. Wednesday, she had 23.4 percent of the vote.

State Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina (Los Angeles County), a practicing optometrist, looks like a likely second-place finisher with 20.8 percent of the vote, and Republican Cole Harris, a Los Angeles import-export businessman, trailed him in third with 18.4 percent of the vote.

The top-two primary featured an extraordinary amount of outside spending, with Sacramento housing developer Angelo Tsakopoulos serving as the largest donor with more than $4.7 million to a super PAC supporting his daughter, Kounalakis.

Former U.S. ambassador to Australia and Piedmont attorney Jeff Bleich, a Democrat, had 9.3 percent of the vote early Wednesday morning. David Fennell, a Republican Silicon Valley entrepreneur, had 8.3 percent.